I am a responsible adult!
by Shadows in the Clouds
Summary: With all the other adults at the Avengers Compound gone for the day, it's up to Clint Barton to hold down the fort and take care of all the kids. So, with his hands full, Clint gets some help from our friendly neighbourhood Spiderkid. What can go wrong! Part 9 of Avenging Family


This was a request by overly-obsessed-fangirl1 on Tumblr. They requested some Clint and Peter bonding with fluff galore. I tried my best. Also, it is HIGHLY recommended that you read my fic More Than He Seems, or else this is going to get very confusing. This takes place after chapter 26. Enjoy!

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When Clint Barton had first joined SHIELD all those years ago, he'd never thought his life would turn out the way it did. He never anticipated how crazy everything would be. Clint would have never thought that him rescuing a brainwashed Russian Assassin would lead to him meeting his wife, Laura. And that that would lead to him having two kids, which lead to him meeting the Norse God of Thunder, getting brainwashed by said Gods little brother, and joining a team of superheroes that included the likes of The Hulk, Tony Stark, and freaking Captain America! He also never thought that he would ever have to teach Tony Stark how to parent a newborn infant, but he did that too, and soon Tony became one of his best friends.

From there, Clint spent time with both his family and his Avengers family, splitting his time between playing games with his children back at the farm, and playing pranks on his team back at the tower. Life was good. Clint watched as Tony and Steve finally got their heads out of their asses and began a relationship. He watched as Thor learned new things about living on Earth. He watched as Tony's son Carter grew up and learned about the world.

Then tragedy happened with Ultron and losing JARVIS. The upside to that was that the Avengers gained new teammates and moved up to the compound, Clint's wife and three kids included. Life was good at the compound for a while. The kids loved having more space to play and having new kids to play with. Then, things got worse before they got better. Tony got hurt bad and Clint took it hard. Tony was his fellow Dadvenger and he didn't like that one of his best friends got hurt. Then young Peter got sucked into their lives when his aunt was killed and Tony and Steve adopted him. The kid fit into the Avengers family great and Clint liked to include the young spiderling in some of his pranks.

Then life took another turn for the worse in what everyone only referred to as "The Incident". Nobody really liked to talk about it, but it left the team shaken and Tony's youngest kids with superpowers. But, things got better. Tony and Steve got married, all the kids were doing amazing in school, Clint got to go out more on dates with his wife. The Avengers were more than a team. They were a family who supported each other in every way. That was one thing Clint didn't have growing up, and Clint wouldn't change any of the things he'd experienced every to change what he had now.

But, out of all the things Clint had experienced over the years, he certainly never thought that being left alone and in charge of 4 children under the age of 10 and two teenagers would be one of them.

So thank fuck for Tony and Steve's eldest son Peter.

When Peter had first joined the Avengers family, Clint's first thoughts about the kids were that he was absolutely hilarious. The kid was a barrel of laughs that brought a little more sunshine to the compound. All of the younger kids loved him. All the adults loved him. It was impossible not to love Peter.

So, that was why when Clint was tasked with watching all the kids in the compound, he enlisted Peter's help. With Peter being sixteen and having babysat his little brother Carter many times before. He was more than qualified to help Clint.

As for why Clint was the only adult at the compound, well…; Tony and Steve were at an interview, Sam and Rhodey were doing something for the army, Wanda and Vision were on vacation in Hawaii, Bucky and Natasha were off training, Scott and Hope were doing something with Pym, and Clint's wife Laura was enjoying a day out with Pepper, Jane, and Darcy. So that left Clint all alone.

"PETER!" shouted Clint as he got all the kids eating breakfast. The teen still wasn't out of bed so Clint used FRIDAY to force the kid back to the land of the living.

While Clint waited for Peter to get up to help him, Clint started giving the kids breakfast. It didn't take long for two-year-old Nate to cover himself in oatmeal, for Carter, Lila, and Cassie to decide that making cereal art was more entertaining, and for Cooper to fall back asleep and tip over his juice. That day had just begun and Clint already had his hands full. By the time Peter was dressed and ready for the day, Clint had already finished feeding the younger kids.

"Good, Pete, you're here. Can you get your brother and Cassie dressed while I get my kids?" asked Clint as Peter walked into the main living space of the compound.

"Sure thing Uncle Clint." Smiled Peter as he allowed Carter and Cassie to lead him away.

For the most part, Clint's older kids could get dressed on their own. With Cooper being thirteen and Lila eight, they could get dressed on their own, and dressing Nate was easy because he didn't squirm as much as his siblings did when they were little. Peter had a little bit more difficulty on his end. Carter's room and Cassie's rooms were not exactly close together. So, Peter started off by getting Carter dressed. That in on itself was a challenge. For starters, despite Carter being the genius child of Tony Stark, he was still only five and struggled with putting clothes on correctly. It took almost fifteen minutes to get him dressed. Cassie was much easier. She was almost 10 and could get dressed on her own. She just wasn't allowed to wander the compound on her own after that time she tried to break into the weapons hanger.

After all the kids were dressed and ready for the day, it was time for a little bit of fun. Clint started helping Cooper with his homework while keeping Nate occupied with a small art project. Peter took the other kids outside for a game of soccer. Every time Clint looked out the large bay window in the kitchen he could see all four kids outside laughing and smiling. It made Clint's heart grow in size seeing the kids safe and smiling. It made him happy that he could help give these kids a better childhood than he had.

When it was time for lunch, Clint called the kids in from outside and had Peter set them up with a movie in the living room while Clint whipped together some grilled cheese sandwiches. They were one of the few foods that Clint knew how to make without burning the whole compound to the ground.

Lunch was full of laughter with Cassie and Lila telling Clint all about their game outside. Cooper had decided that he wanted to pull the sullen teenager routine and he kept to himself. Clint would have to have a talk with him later about that.

After lunch, Clint decided that he wanted in on the fun and decided to take the kids down to the games room to build with all the Lego sets they owned. That very quickly turned into a building competition, kids versus Clint and Peter. Carter and Cooper were the engineers of the group while Lila and Cassie were in charge of making some sort of projectile. Clint wasn't quite sure what they were going. Nate was in charge of decorations made out of his giant Duplo blocks. They were at it for hours. While the younger ones built and chatted away, Clint took some time to bond with the oldest kid of the compound.

"So, how's school been lately Pete?" asked Clint as he started adding purple blocks to the top of their tower.

"It's been good lately. Flash has started leaving me and my friends alone after you guys all scared him on that field trip." Peter smiled and Clint pushed for him to continue.

"Ned, MJ, and I finally finished that project for Chemistry and we won our last decathlon meet. Oh, and Shuri called me the other day with more embarrassing videos of King T'Challa. I'll have to show them to you."

The two traded jokes back and forth putting minimal effort into their build. Both understood the importance of allowing the younger kids to win against the actual superheroes. When it came time to start the "fight" it was all out chaos. Clint went into what Laura called "responsible adult mode" once he realized that part of the younger kid's strategy was having Carter use his powers to fling projectiles at Clint and Peter's tower. Carter was still learning how to control them and didn't have the best aim in the world. Clint didn't need anyone losing an eye because of it.

It didn't take long before the room was covered in a thick layer of Lego as the towers that they had made fell in a chaotic symphony. Everyone was laughing and having a good time…

Until they had to actually clean up the giant mess they made.

Clint, in all his genius, decided to attempt to turn it into a game. With the help of Peter, Clint was able to get all the kids cleaning up the mess they'd made. Everyone except Cooper. Clint really needed to have a talk with him about this whole moody teenager routine, or to just find out of something was going on at school.

By the time everything was cleaned up, the other adults who lived at the compound had slowly begun to trickle back home. Cassie was the first to go running when her dad got back home. She was always excited to see her dad after the time he spent away from her in prison. Laura was next to come home and she was quick to take over in keeping her and Clint's kids in line. Clint was great with the kids, but Laura was the "baby whisperer". She just always knew what to do. Tony and Steve were the last to finally get back home. Their interview when longer than expected and they both looked dead on their feet.

"Hey, guys. How did the interview go?" asked Clint as Steve scooped Carter into his arms and Tony flopped down on the couch next to Peter.

"I'm never doing interviews ever again. If I have to do another one, it will be too soon." Groaned Tony as he slapped a hand over his face.

"That bad?"

"That bad."

Thanks for watching the kids today Clint. I hope Carter behaved himself." Spoke up Steve as he too flopped down on the couch.

"Nah, everything was chill. Peter here was a big help." Smiled Clint.

Everyone fell into an easy conversation and were just getting into a discussion on interviewer etiquette when Sam and Rhodey called them in for dinner. Little Carter went running and was followed swiftly by his parents. Peter was a little bit slower and stayed behind to walk down with Clint.

"Thanks for all your help today Peter. You're a good kid. Don't forget that." Clint smiled at Peter as he clasped a hand on the teen's shoulder as he was leaving the room.

"It's nothing. I like helping out with the younger kids Uncle Clint." Peter smiled back at Clint and the two made their way to the dining room for dinner.

When everyone sat down to dinner that night and the kids began to tell everyone what they had done that day, Clint knew that he'd done well. It was moments like this, moments where everything was calm and smiles were shared, that made everything worth it.

Clint Barton had been through a whole lot in his life, but he was glad all those moments lead him here.

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I hope you guys liked this little snapshot into Clint's life at the compound. It reminds me of back when it was writing "The Avengers Need Better PR Than This" which y'all should totally read if you haven't already. It is part of this series after all. Also, check out Clint's blog hawkvengerpr for more fun and games. Well, I'll see you all soon. Chapter 31 of MTHS is being written as we speak. Until next time -Shadows


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